Misc
ksharpe | July 27, 2006
"Compared To Your Pet Iguana, You Are Practically Blind"
How poorly do mammals see? More poorly than we ever could have imagined before discovering melanopsin. Visial photoreception is only the tip of the iceberg.
Speaking of complexity: "A Simple Story Gets Complicated"
Promiscuity in some individuals (we're talking about voles, here) is not as elegantly accounted for by genetics as we once thought.
"Somewhat Less Gleeful Gleevec"
Gleevec, a drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia, hit the market in 2001, and was welcomed as the harbinger of a new generation of cancer treatments. Now it's…
ksharpe | July 26, 2006Today on ScienceBlogs:
Ten leading climate scientists say: even those who disagree about global warming can admit that overdevelopment on the coasts sets us up to lose life and property to hurricanes
A Tale of Two Job Searches (Having A Family and an Academic Career, Part 4)
Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame): "We need to turn scientists back into the rock stars they are."
A new sunscreen may blow previous sunscreens out of the water
New levels of complexity discovered in DNA; Cassini sends back photographs of Titan's murky "lakes"
Hybrids vs. Hummers redux: Sticking up for corporate…
ksharpe | July 26, 2006I heard that within 15 years, global warming will have made Napa County too hot to grow good wine grapes. Is that true? What other changes are we going to see during our lifetimes because of global warming?
ksharpe | July 25, 2006Today on ScienceBlogs:
The Chronicle of Higher Education is running a symposium on the benefits of academic blogging
When vocalizing, rhesus macaques use regions of the brain that correspond to language centers in the human brain
A medical anthropologist in Minnesota undertakes a study "to examine the ways in which ideas about everyday life in American society are shaped by and shape ideas about sleep"
Why Indonesia's bird flu policy should make you nervous
Is science just 'common sense' writ large?
The math of zero
What's the difference between carbon dioxide and the common housefly? (Hint…
ksharpe | July 24, 2006Today on ScienceBlogs:
Genetically-modified mosquitoes to control mosquito-borne diseases?
Mirror neurons: why have these flashy little cells received "massive, overblown publicity"?
Giant, gross, super-cool close-ups of bugs!
PZ Myers waxes lyrical about growing older, along with one's kids
A view of the post-Katrina medical infrastructure in New Orleans
Germany joins a coalition of European nations opposing embryonic stem cell research
Why "energy drinks" won't help you stay awake
apalazzo | July 22, 2006GrrlScientist's entry on the new episodes of Star Trek, reminded me of something that I saw recently: Star Trek does the Knights of the Round Table. Best mashup ever? You be the judge.
ksharpe | July 20, 2006Eight new posts of note, hand-picked for your blog-reading enjoyment:
Abel Pharmboy reports that the FDA is (finally!) recognizing the potential for negative interactions between antidepressants and migraine medications
At Pure Pedantry, Jake says "so what?" to newly-released letters shedding light on Einstein's - many! - extramarital affairs
Alex at The Daily Transcript has two items up that come with graphs and discuss important science-funding issues. One describes why increased demand for biomedical postdocs hasn't translated into decent wages for these positions. The second is about…
apalazzo | July 20, 2006I was interviewed by Hsien Hsien Lei, and the complete transcript is available at her fantastic blog, Genetics & Health.
(Hope my answers weren't to long winded ...)
ksharpe | July 19, 2006It's the latest and the greatest of them all!
Jake Young reports breaking news from the AP: President Bush does veto the stem cell bill
Dr Free-Ride follows up on a story about allegations of widespread plagiarism in the Engineering Department at Ohio University
Shelley Batts on New Orleans doctors being prosecuted for second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of hospital patients during Hurricane Katrina
Chad Orzel chimes in to the growing debate about the future of nuclear energy in America
Orac punches some holes in a study blaming iPods and cell phones for a rise in autism…
ksharpe | July 19, 2006If you could have practiced science in any time and any place throughout history, which would it be, and why?
ksharpe | July 18, 2006Eight of the freshest (in both senses) from the last 24 hours:
Framing Science takes a look at the relationship between hot weather, and news-media attention paid to global warming
PZ Myers offers his gloss on pending stem cell legislation
Pure Pedantry reports that getting enough sleep appears to lower your chances of obesity
Dr. Joan Bushwell eagerly anticipates the premiere of the SciFi Network's newest series, a small-town drama with overtones of 'Twin Peaks'
Evolgen conjectures about developing "a community of armchair molecular genetics data miners"
Cognitive Daily wonders whether…
ksharpe | July 17, 2006It's an embarrassment of riches on ScienceBlogs today. Below, your quick guide to a few of the posts that are making us feel so flush.
Benjamin Cohen at The World's Fair links to an article about the portrayal of physicists in film, and talks up the Society for Arts, Literature, and Science, which is planning an interesting annual meeting in NYC in November (the theme is "Evolution: Biological, Cultural, and Cosmic").
On the subject of The World's Fair (those guys are on fire), the third and final clue to the Puzzle Fantastica #1 is up. Shelley has posted an intriguing bid for a solution the…
ksharpe | July 16, 2006A few weekend posts worth digging back for:
Shelley and Evil Monkey discuss the theory that exposure to environmental toxins such as pesticides could be responsible for the rise in prevalence of Parkinson's disease, especially among the young.
Janet continues the discussion of the position of women in the sciences with a post on a Boston Globe story about the intimidation of a (female) MIT job candidate by a (male) nobel laureate.
Joseph describes an uproar in Peru over promising anti-diarrheal drugs; naysayers oppose the drugs on the grounds that they are manufactured using gentic…
ksharpe | July 12, 2006Is every species of living thing on the planet equally deserving of protection?
ksharpe | July 12, 2006Did you know about the network banner?
One of the features of Seed Media Group websites (that's ScienceBlogs.com, Seedmagazine.com, and Phylotaxis.com to you) is called the network banner. It's the thin gray strip you see at the top of your screen.
What is the network banner? What does it do?
Well, because the banner is the same across all the sites, it helps you know you're in Seed Media country. But it's more than just a visual marker. The network banner is updated every day with links to blog posts, magazine articles, and other features that the Seed editors think you'd enjoy. If you're in…
apalazzo | July 11, 2006I've been subcloning today and my brain feels like mush. (All you non-biologists have no fear, subcloning = cutting and pasting DNA). Then I get an email from an old friend ... "look at this natural hallucinogen video" ... yeah whatever, you stare at the moving pattern and then turn away and ... yow! I've never seen anything like that before ...
My guess is that having looked at this pattern long enough, our brains compensate by generating signals that counter the moving patterns. These reverse-swerving patterns then "taint" all incoming information. Any better explanation?
ksharpe | July 11, 2006There's so much good stuff on ScienceBlogs today that I'm moved to do something drastic: namely, to post, and point out the contributions that have been rocking my morning.
This one got by me the first time, but I'm glad I found it: a Retrospectacle article about how to cook up your own vitamin C. Shelley says the store-bought stuff loses potency over time (any chemists out there who can support or debunk this claim?) Wild...and very DIY.
Pharyngula reveals that the annoying, cranium-penetrating sound that mosquitoes make is actually a love song of sorts - a fact that only increases his…
ksharpe | July 10, 2006The ScienceBlogs Donors Choose Challenge officially ended on July 1. By the final count, the ScienceBloggers raised $23,005.16 for educational projects in public-school science teachers' classrooms. The $23,005 will be joined by $10,000 in matching funds donated by Seed. And DonorsChoose has announced that it will reward individual blog challenges that met their funding goals with DonorsChoose gift certificates worth 10% of the amount raised in those challenges, sweetening the pot even more.
Nineteen of the ScienceBlogs participated in the funding drive. Six blogs--Pharyngula, The…
apalazzo | July 8, 2006Yes, it's true, Kyle MacDonald of my hometown (Montreal) has successfully achieved his dream: trade one red paperclip for a house.
Incredible.
apalazzo | July 7, 2006It's Mitosis, with a nifty soundtrack. Enjoy!
Previously:
More Biology Rap
Protein Synthesis Rap